Ubuntu 11.04 Defaulting to Classic GNOME Over Unity?

A message on the Ubuntu developers mailing list mentions that the current state of Unity will be up for discussion at the next Tech panel and, if needed, Natty may default to the Classic GNOME Desktop.

Classic Gnome Desktop by default (dmandell)

Action: rickspencer3 will bring up the state of unity on the -desktop list for public review and discussion

The buggy state in which Unity/Compiz is remains as at Beta-1 release, combined with usability issues, UI settings and the launcher icon’s behavior have raised doubts and this is no longer April Fool’s!Whilst most informed developer’s seem to agree that Unity should be default in 11.04, the crashes for Beta users remain a serious issue (if you can get it working in the first place!).

With less than a month til release, you would think it’s too late to fix all the bugs and too late to default to the Classic GNOME Desktop.I can’t see the Canonical developers backing down, but a poor Unity delivery could sink an entire Ubuntu release, a huge setback. I’m not close enough to call it. RC